Pan European University Trip

e visited the Faculty of Media at Pan European University, formerly the Bratislava School of Law, on Friday, September 17.

The university is private and began offering media studies in May 2007 when the Accreditation Commission of the Government and Ministry of Education granted permission for the university to award bachelors, masters and doctoral programs in mass media studies.  Courses are taught in Slovak, Czech, English and German.  The university enrolment is 1,500.

The first bachelors degrees were awarded in June 2010 and the first masters degrees were awarded in June 2009.  Courses are offered in print, video and audio in news and marketing communications (which includes advertising and public relations). Until the 2010-2011 academic year, marketing communications was offered only at the masters level.

The facilities of the school are exceptional.  We saw video, audio and still photography facilities, word processing labs and multiple platform teaching facilities that were as good as any we have seen anywhere.  Clearly, it is a remarkably cutting edge facility in terms of the technology provided.

Seventeen full-time faculty members are complemented by many professional part-time adjunct faculty members.  They appeared to have exceptional credentials, and a record of their productivity seemed remarkable to us.

Tenure is limited or unlimited, teaching loads range from 8 to 12 hours for associate professors and professors.  Because faculty receive low salaries, many work at other universities.  While their pay may not be as high as professionals in media industries, it is more than the salaries of faculty at public universities.

Tuition is 1,000 Euros a semester.  There are 600 majors, and 90 were graduated last June.

The school will host an international conference entitled, ”Media in Crisis – Crisis in Media”, December 2 – 4.  It is the third conference of scholars hosted by the faculty of the media at Pan European University.